1. Field of the Invention
This application relates generally to an illumination device and, more specifically, to a LED illumination device that establishes a thermally-conductive pathway between a LED light, a heat sink, and a light fixture including the LED illumination device.
2. Description of Related Art
Incandescent lights having a bi-pin connector such as those commonly referred to as “G9” type lights, for example, are typically used in light fixtures installed at locations such as bathrooms. Such lights have a pair of spaced-apart pins electrically connected to a filament that, when energized, emits light. However, such lights are inefficient and convert a large portion of the electric energy received into heat, requiring the lights to be installed in a socket formed from a ceramic material or other suitable thermal insulator. The insulating material thermally insulates the light from its supporting fixture to prevent the fixture itself from becoming too hot.
Attempts to utilize more efficient light sources such as LED lights in G9-compatible sockets have focused on providing a G9-compatible pin arrangement to a LED array. Lamps including such LED arrays typically include many low-power LED bulbs electrically connected to a G9-compliant connector that can be installed in a conventional G9-compliant socket. Since such sockets supply AC electric power, however, each lamp is also provided with an onboard AC-to-DC converter circuit, which increases the cost of the lamps.
Although LED bulbs operate at a lower temperature than their incandescent counterparts, the heat generated by the LEDs must be dissipated to prevent it from degrading the LED efficiency. In an effort to minimize the heat generated, conventional devices have traditionally utilized a large number of low-power LED chips spaced apart from each other. Including too few of the low-power LEDs in the array (or LEDs of insufficient power-rating) results in an insufficient amount of visible light being emitted to adequately replace an incandescent bulb. And including too many of the low-power LEDs in the array can result in a power consumption that at least partially offsets the power savings that make LEDs an attractive alternative to incandescent bulbs.